Rotary burnishers

ABSTRACT

A rotary dental burnisher for use in a conventional dental hand piece comprising a shank portion tapering down to and connected to a fluted burnishing head having a plurality of polished, rounded, elongated, ridges.

United States Patent 91 Gerteisen [451 Mar. 25, 1975 I ROTARY BURNISHERS[76] Inventor: Jerome M. Gerteisen, 117 N. Black Eagle Dr., Mankato,Minn. 56001 [22] Filed: Jan. 21, 1974 21 Appl. No.: 435,239

[52] US. Cl. 32/59 [51] Int. Cl. A6lc 3/06 [58] Field of Search 32/48,69, 50, 58, 59; 5l/372, 206

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,142,138 7/1964 Kean et al32/59 3,243,925 4/I966 Buzzell 32/59 3,318,002 5/1967 Klein 32/59 OTHERPUBLICATIONS Journal of American Dental Association, Aug. 1968, Vol. 77,No. 2, page 435.

Primary E.\'aminer-Robert Peshock Attorney, Agent, or FirmNeil B.Schulte [57] ABSTRACT A rotary dental burnisher for use in aconventional dental hand piece comprising a shank portion tapering downto and connected to a fluted burnishing head having a plurality ofpolished, rounded, elongated, ridges.

2 Claims, 4 Drawing Figures ROTARY BURNISHERS BACKGROUND INVENTION Inthe dental arts there is a definite need for tools and methods toproduce a smooth polished surface on exposed metal surfaces such as golddental castings utilized to restore lost tooth structure. At presentthese smooth polished surfaces are produced with abrasives which arerubbed and worked against the gold surface with a tool. The typicalprior art procedure for polishing gold comprises several steps.Irregular surfaces on the rough casting are ground off with a coarseabrasive wheel. Surfaces on the top of the casting (occusal) are thenground into good matching shapes or good occlusion. Deeper parts areaccented with steel or carbide burs and mounted stones. This leaves ashiny surface which is scratched and cut and therefore not toodesirable. Next, the surfaces are semi-finished with an abrasivematerial contained in rubber. This is applied with a rubber wheel.Finally, a cloth wheel is used to produce a high shine by polishing withtripoliand gold rouge.

The problem with this approach is that the abrasive usually cannot beproperly worked to smooth out the cut and scratched surface. The rubberpoints and wheels which are used in dental handpieces are totallyinadequate to reach the small tight areas which have been accentuated orscored by the steel and carbide burs and mounted stones. The result isthat the higher surfaces tend to be ground away without achievingprogress toward polishing the deep areas. Thus, the good occlusion canbe destroyed without really accomplishing an adequate polish. In fact,in the prior art this has constituted such a problem that the polishingprocess may consume 90 percent of the time required to finish and polisha crown or bridge gold restoration. My invention as described belowprovides a tool which shortens this time considerably by burnishing thesurface rather than scoring it with abrasives.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION My invention contemplates a rotary burnisherwhich may be produced in a variety of different sizes and shapes. It hasbeen found that a burnisher designed according to the principles of myinvention produces the desired polished finish in one or two minuteswithout removing any gold from the restoration. In this way, deepocclusal anatomy can be established to an extent heretofore impossible.A polish far superior than the prior art results and the good occlusionestablished in the rough finishing is not destroyed. To accomplish thisend my invention contemplates a small burnishing head at the tip of ashank which shank is carried in a conventional dental handpiece. Theburnishing head is formed with a series of bumps or irregularities in afluted pattern which irregularities are carefully polished and smoothed.No cutting edges are present and no abrasives are required. Instead thetool operates by a slight hammering and friction process which smoothesthe surface. Different shapes of burnishers are demonstrated designed toreach different surface contours. Thus, it may be seen that it is anobject of my invention to provide an improved toolfor polishing golddental castings. Further objects and advantages will become apparentfrom the following description and drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 compriserespectively top and side views of one embodiment of my invention.

FIG. 3 and FIG. 4 comprise respectively top and side views of a secondembodiment of my invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring simultaneously toFIGS. 1 and 2 it may be seen that the burnishing tool of my invention ismounted at the end of a tapered shaft 10 and comprises a generally ovalshaped head 12. Head 12 is provided, in the preferred embodiment shown,with eight rounded ridges or flutes 14 with indentations 16therebetween. The flutes 14 are carefully smoothed and polished so thatno cutting edges are present. Head 12 may be formed from a suitablehardened steel or any other metal appropriate to the polishing taskinvolved. Each of the flutes 14 on head 12 curves from a pointunderneath head 12 near the shank 10 up around the circumference of head12 and back in toward the end of the tool. The shape of head 12 ischosen primarily to provide a shape similar to a cutting bur so that thepolishing head 12 fits evenly into the basic contours formed by thecutting bur. Since head 12 operates by a combination process ofhammering and rubbing no abrasives are necessary and the gold casting istherefore not cut or scored as in the prior art. Although eight flutesare shown in the prefered embodiment, any number can be convenientlyused. The most important aspect of the design of the invention is thatthe flutes comprise rounded and polished bumps so that they do not cutor scratch on their own.

A second embodiment is shown in FIGS. 3 and 4. In the embodiment ofFIGS. 3 and 4 a shank 20 supports a head 22 having several flutes 24thereon. These flutes, like those in FIGS. 1 and 2 are rounded andpolished to a high degree and are curved back under toward the shank 20.However, the top of head 22 is brought to a more distinct point so as topermit reaching into deep areas to accomplish the polishing function. Inreality, the heads are, of course, very much smaller than shown. Theshape of heads 12 and 22 are intended to show two arrangements which maybe used. Other shapes are equally suitable, however, as long as thebumps are rounded, smoothed, and highly polished. Also the bumps shouldcurve back and away from the polishing surface which is defined by thehighest points of the bumps. Many variations in design may occur to onehaving ordinary skill in the art and therefore I intend to be limitedonly to the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A burnishing tool for use on dental castings comprising a shankportion and a head portion, aligned along a longitudinal axis, saidshank portion shaped to fit in a dental handpiece for rotation aboutsaid axis, and said head portion formed from a rounded solid steelmember having a plurality of flutes arranged genbur.

1. A burnishing tool for use on dental castings comprising a shankportion and a head portion, aligned along a longitudinal axis, saidshank portion shaped to fit in a dental handpiece for rotation aboutsaid axis, and said head portion formed from a rounded solid steelmember having a plurality of flutes arranged generally parallel to saidaxis about the circumference of said head, said flutes being rounded andsmooth.
 2. The tool of claim 1 in which the flutes together establish acomposite shape similar to a dental cutting bur.